A DRIVER who never passed a test has been jailed for killing his brother in a head-on smash.

Valer Kvec was overtaking a lorry when his Honda Accord hit a Ford Mondeo coming the other way, leaving his brother Michael, 18, dead at the scene.

Jailing him for four-and-a-half years, Judge Alan Parker told Kvec: “The driver of the Mondeo must have stared death in the face at that time.”

Kvec, 32, of Duddeston Drive, Saltley, admitted causing death by dangerous driving and causing death by driving while unlicensed.

Warwick Crown Court heard he had not passed a test in the UK or his native Romania, let alone had a driving lesson.

The smash happened on a bend on an unlit section of Europa Way in Greys Mallory, Warwick, at about 8pm on December 6 last year.

Kvec himself suffered a broken neck, leg and wrist, and chest injuries, while the Mondeo driver miraculously escaped with bumps and bruises.

Two women passengers who were in the back of the Honda suffered life-threatening injuries but were recovering well, the court heard.

The judge told Kvec: “You had become frustrated at following the lorry which was maintaining its own speed limit. The most tragic part of this, of course, for you and your family, and perhaps for your mother, is that your 18-year-old brother died instantly. I accept you are profoundly sorry for what happened and the physical scars you are certain to suffer for the rest of your life are nothing compared to the psychological scars you will suffer till the day you die.

“At the moment your mother has lost two sons.”

Kvec, who had spent 224 days on remand, was also banned from driving for ten years. Zaheer Afzal, defending, said: “It was a short piece of bad driving, described by witnesses as a poor overtaking manoeuvre.”